Jewel

Qball · September 3, 2005

Jewel Kilcher (born May 23, 1974) is a singer-songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and author, better known by her stage name, Jewel.

Jewel was born in Payson, Utah, but spent most of her young life growing up in Homer, Alaska, living with her father. The home in which she grew up did not have indoor plumbing, but a simple outhouse instead. She and her father sometimes earned a living by singing in bars and taverns. It was from these experiences she learned to yodel, a quality demonstrated in many of her songs. Her father was a Mormon, but they stopped attending the church shortly before she turned eight.

During high school, Jewel was known to spell her name "Jule," but she attributes this to simple playing with her name as teenagers are prone to do.

Jewel learned to play the guitar while on scholarship at the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy in Interlochen, Michigan, where she majored in operatic voice. She started writing songs at the age of seventeen.

For a time, she was poverty-stricken and lived in her van while travelling about the country. She gained some recognition by singing at the Innerchange Coffeehouse and Java Joe's in San Diego, California. Her friend Steve Poltz's band, The Rugburns played the same venues. Jewel later collaborated with Poltz on some of her songs. He appeared in Jewel's band on the Spirit World Tour 1999 playing guitar.

It was at these coffeehouse appearances that she was discovered by Atlantic Records. She cut her debut album, Pieces of You, when she was nineteen and it was released in 1995. Some of the songs on the album were recorded at the coffeehouse. The album stayed on the Billboard 200 for an impressive two years, reaching number four at its peak popularity. The album spawned the Top 10 hits "You Were Meant for Me", "Who Will Save Your Soul?" and the #1 hit "Foolish Games". The album was a huge success and eventually sold over 11 million copies in the US alone.

Jewel is noted for her songs' qualites of stark honesty and soulful introspection. Her songs resist categorization, but, because of their mostly guitar accompaniment, have sometimes been categorized as folk music or the hybrid class folk-pop. However, her music is mostly recognized as popular music and enjoys wide exposure on a variety of music radio stations.

Due to her success, she was chosen to sing the national anthem at the opening of the Super Bowl in January 1998.

In November 1998, Jewel released her second album, Spirit. The album peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200 and sold over 4 million copies in the US. The songs "Hands" and "Down So Long" hit the Top 10.

A year later, In November 1999, Jewel released her holiday album, Joy-A Holiday Collection. The album sold over a million copies and peaked at #32 on the Billboard 200. She released a cover of "Joy to the World" from the album.

In November 2001, the album This Way was released. The album peaked at #9 on the Billboard 200 and sold over 1 million copies in the US. Jewel hit the Top 10 with the song "Standing Still" and the Top 40 with the song "Break Me".

In 2003 Jewel underwent a drastic image change with the release of her album 0304. She writes in her liner notes, "I wanted to make a record that was a modern interpretation of big band music. A record that was lyric driven, like Cole Porter stuff, that also had a lot of swing. And a lot of it is thanks to Lester, because when I told him I wanted to make a record that combined dance, urban and folk music, he didn't look at me like I was crazy." It's an innovative album that is smart, fun, and sexy. It also contains heartfelt lyrics about love, that holds to the tradition of her previous albums in a different way, in songs like "Run 2 U," "2 Find U," "Fragile Heart," and "2 Become 1."

Her video for the debut single Intuition had her cavorting in full dance numbers, often scantily clad in bras and bikinis. The song and video seemed to be intended as social commentary on the state of pop music but it left fans wondering if Jewel had in fact become what she was satirizing. The song "Intuition" was hit the Top 10, and the album 0304 debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200, giving Jewel her highest chart dating ever. In total, however, the album sold just 500,000 units in the US, making it her lowest-selling album.

As of July 2005, Jewel is in the studio working on a new album.

(surprise, surprise... Wikipedia)